The online shopping sales surge 16-hold in 15 years

[THE INVESTOR] The online shopping business in Korea has expanded more than 16-fold over the past 15 years due to the rapid development of online transactions, government data showed on June 16.Total online sales reached 53.9 trillion won ($46.1 billion) last year, compared with 3.3 trillion won in 2001, with an average 22 percent on-year growth every year, according to Statistics Korea. (123rf)Mobile shopping amounted to 24.5 trillion won in 2015, more than tripling from 6.6 trillion won in 201

June 16, 2016

Seoul shares open slightly higher following Fed meeting

[THE INVESTOR] Korean shares opened slightly higher Thursday following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to freeze the key interest rate. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 0.41 point, or 0.02 percent, to 1,969.24 during the first 15 minutes of trading. The U.S Federal Reserve decided to maintain interest rates at its former level on Wednesday considering Britain’s possible exit from the European Union, said Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Samsung Electronics dropped 0.78 percent, a

June 16, 2016

KOSPI ranks world’s 13th performer

[THE INVESTOR] The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index ranked 13th among major global stock market indices in terms of performance for a month ending June 14, a local securities firm said Thursday. The KOSPI produced a negative return of 0.57 percent during the period to take a slightly higher position among 40 major market indices worldwide examined by Daishin Securities. During the period, the KOSPI skidded from 1,983.40 points to 1,972.03 points. The KOSPI touched this year’s high of

June 16, 2016

[ANALYST REPORT] Jump in Korea‘s tax revenues is credit positive

Below is an article from “Moody‘s Credit Outlook”, 16 Jun 2016 issue.Last Friday, Korea’s (Aa2 stable) Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) announced that it had collected KRW96.9 trillion in taxes in the first four months of the year, a 23% increase from the same period a year earlier and already 43% of the government’s targeted tax revenues for 2016.The increased revenue is credit positive for the sovereign because it supports government finances. Moreover, the increased tax revenue reflect

June 16, 2016

Seoul looks to reduce banks’ forex uncertainties

[THE INVESTOR] Seoul is looking to strengthen the ability of local banks to deal with sudden changes in the international market, the financial authorities announced after a meeting Thursday. As part of the plans -- finalized at a meeting between the financial regulators, central bank and Finance Ministry -- local banks will be required to raise their foreign exchange liquidity coverage ratio to 80 percent by 2019.   pixabay.comThe FX LCR is maintained at a level between the net forex outflow ex

June 16, 2016